The present invention relates to buildings constructed with prefabricated components and prefabricated components utilized in constructing such a building constructed with prefabricated components.
In order to decrease the cost while simultaneously increase the design reliability of building structures utilzing wooden construction frame members, attempts have been made to prefabricate various portions of building structures. For many years, prefabricated roof truss structures have been designed and for constructing numerous different types of buildings. Some attempts have been made at also prefabricating the side wall sections and purlin sections of wood-framed building structures. Such attempts, however, often have incurred various problems resulting in failures of the buildings constructed with different design approaches. While extensive work and design considerations have gone into the construction of roof trusses for light wood framed structures, such design efforts typically have not been carried over into the construction of the framed wall sections and purlin sections of the wood frame structures.
In an article in the September 1982 issue of Farm Building News entitled "Building Design Needs More Attention" numerous problems incurred with prior designs of light wood framed structures are set forth. Among the problems noted in such article are those discussed below. It is common in constructing such wood frame structures to provide a bottom chord member and webbed lateral bracing members that run perpendicular to the roof trusses but such structures are not provided with triangulating bracing for transmitting the loads to the exterior of the building and subsequently to the footings of the building. The purlin structures that commonly have been utilized often have been inadequate to withstand heavy loads such as created by drifts of snow or ice build-up on sections of the roof structure. The failure of the purlin structure, even a minor segment, can lead to excessive loads on the truss chord and buckling of the cord which can cause a spreading effect so as to create a partial or complete collapse of the building structure. The knee braces commonly utilized in such structures are designed to be attached only to the bottom chord of the trusses; such an attachment introduces secondary bending moments into the bottom chord which is not designed to withstand such loads. It has been recommended that the knee braces be installed within the truss scarf or extended to the truss top chord in order to resolve this particular problem.
Various patents have disclosed different designs for buildings constructed with prefabricated components and equipment for use in prefabricating sections for such a building constructed with prefabricated components. Exemplary of such patents are the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,156,018 to Slayter; 3,380,209 to Cheskin; 3,820,502 to Castillo et al.; 4,030,256 to Ollman; and, 4,069,627 to Pegg. The patent to Slayter shows a building structure that can be prefabricated in a plant in modular or segmented building sectins, each of which includes an integral construction of the roof, side walls and floor supports for the building section. The patent to Cheskin shows a prestressed framing system for use in building structures; in particular, the framing system is for use in constructing the floors of a building by interconnecting prestressed horizontal panel sections which are prestressed by utilizing a series of triangulating metal tension rods. The patent to Castillo et al. shows a system for prefabricating wooden building frames such as would be used in constructing wall frames for a building and shows the wall frames constructed with such system. The patent to Ollman discloses prefabricated units that can be used in constructing the roofs and walls of steel buildings. The patent to Pegg shows prefabricated sections for constructing a greenhouse wherein certain sections of both the roof panels and wall panels are braced by metal tension rods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,093 to Jureit et al. discloses prefabricated flat chord truss assemblies such as assemblies that could be utilized either as floor supports or for constructing an arch over a doorway. U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,232 to Snow et al. discloses an elongated steel bracing member for bracing a wooden wall section of a light frame wooden structure in which the steel bracing member extends between top and bottom chord members and extends at an angle across a series of longitudinal wooden members with the steel bracing member being connected to the outer surface of the longitudinal members. U.S. Pat. No. 3,418,768 discloses load bearing wall sections which are reinforced by triangulating steel tension rods.
As previously discussed, extensive work has been done in the construction of prefabricated roof trusses. Exemplary of such prefabricated roof trusses are those shown in the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat Nos. 3,067,544 to Willatts; 3,785,108 to Satchell; and, Re. 31,234 to Jureit et al.
In addition, a typical prior art roof truss is shown in FIG. 13 of the present application and a typical prior art floor truss in FIG. 14 of the present application with major parts of such truss assemblies being labeled by appropriate common nomenclature.